If I understand these convoluted GP rules, national federations must submit some sort of list to the ISU with the names of skaters who can compete. If Emily got an assignment, the USFSA must have put her on the list. They would not put her on a list, then ask her to withdraw.

However, Emily did not compete at Nationals 2008, and she was required to perform at one or more summer competitions to demonstrate her readiness for the GP assignment. Any skater given a GP assignment who did not finish in the top 5 at the latest Nationals has to do summer competition(s) and/or be individually monitored.

Emily's one summer competition, Midlantics, did not show that she was ready for international competition, and her performance at Regionals wasn't much better. The USFS could have asked her to step down because she was clearly not the Emily of the 2007-2008 GP (which was the basis for her one GP assignment) and her performance level was not good enough for international competition, especially the GP.

However, Emily did not compete at Nationals 2008, and she was required to perform at one or more summer competitions to demonstrate her readiness for the GP assignment.

True, and although she did not "demonstrate readiness for the GP assignment," USFS is not known for taking away international assignments from their skaters.

Any skater given a GP assignment who did not finish in the top 5 at the latest Nationals has to do summer competition(s) and/or be individually monitored.

Only Team A envelope skaters are exempt from competing in a summer competition (not all top 5 placing skaters/teams at Nationals meet the criteria for Team A), but they still can compete in the summer if they want (for example, McLaughlin/Brubaker competed their SP at Broadmoor Open last June and both programs at Indy Challenge in August). All Team A skaters are individually monitored in their home rinks in September.